Scouting for alfalfa winter injury

Mid- to late-March is the time producers should be inspecting alfalfa (and other perennial forage grasses and legumes) for spring recovery. The atypical weather this past fall and winter has led to considerable uncertainty about forage crop survival. Winter-dormant plants lose much of their cold hardiness during an extended period of warmer-than-normal air and soil temperatures, which is referred to as the January or February thaw